'I just went with the flow because...' -Imam-ul- Haq opens up on his initial struggles in international cricket

Imam-ul- Haq (Source: Twitter)

Pakistan Cricket has moved on from the greats such as Younis Khan and Misbah-ul- Haq and given rise to youngsters like Babar Azam, Abdullah Shafiq, Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi. Imam-ul-Haq has also been a revelation for Pakistan at the top of the order.

The left-handed batter recently scored a stroke-filled 96 against New Zealand. He has scored 1322 runs at an average of 38.88 and a strike rate of 47.01 with six half-centuries and three centuries. He had played 19 Tests and 54 ODIs for the Men in Green.

Babar helped me in my initial days -Imam-ul-Haq

It was a hard grind for Imam-ul- Haq when he came on to the international level for Pakistan. There were already heavy loads of expectations on his shoulders. He had to deal with the tag of being the nephew of former Pakistan legend Inzamam-ul-Haq. The 27-year-old has talked about how he handled the weight of expectations and how he overcome them and came out unscathed.

“Sach batau ko dil kaafi dafa kiya hai ki chachu ko bolu 'meri kya galti thi' (If I'm being honest, I felt I should tell chachu (Inzamam), ‘what was my mistake?’),” Imam said in an interview with Pakistan Cricket. “But some things come unwanted in your life. People say that I handled it well, but I actually didn't. I just went with the flow because I had no other option. I came after a long process as well; I played two U19 World Cups, played in 45 first-class matches and had an average of 50 in the Qaid-e-Azam trophy when I was first picked in the team.”

“Initially, I couldn't handle the pressure and I won't lie. I didn't know what to do. And I would like to mention Babar here. He played a very big role in supporting me. We played a lot of cricket together. And it was vice-versa, if he had doubts, we used to discuss them as well. In my family, we are all fighters and we don't give up easily. So I kept on putting the hard work and I had good people around me,” added Imam.